Departure
by Zansetsu
Summary: Faced with the prospect of leaving his old life entirely behind, Akira found out about that one thing that was holding him back.


Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go. *bitterly* I don't care who does anyway. 

A/N: For L. – who always wanted me to write something. For Joey – well… 'cos I've solved certain technical difficulties within the story while talking to her. For N-kun – because. For myself – since I've worked 'hard' on the story. I'm going to write a sequel to this one-shot. Dealing with Hikaru's POV (and more angst). It's going to be fun… 

_Enjoy_. 

"I have nothing…" Akira bowed.

Ogata shook his head in disapproval, "What happened to your playing today? You should have gone there instead of there. You could have avoided this trap. What happened to you? You should could have cut me off there…" Akira bore Ogata's rants with silent patience. 

Ogata pushed up his glasses. "Is your departure to China bothering you much?" 

"No, not really." Akira automatically replied. It was too fast a reply. 

Ogata seen through it at once. 

"Well then, what exactly about leaving Japan is bothering you?" 

"I don't know… I just… suddenly… don't feel like leaving…" Damn it. That's not like him. To choose something and regret it the next moment. It was he who had promised to move to China with his Dad. He can't just change his mind like that. He is not a child anymore. He should know better and be able to shoulder more responsibility, how could he be so immature? __

"Why then, do you want to leave in the first place?" 

"To further my Go. There's plenty more opportunities in China than Japan. Most Japanese don't even know Go is a profession." No bitterness in there, just more automated replies. He had given the question _a lot_ of thought.

Ogata shot Akira a mildly amused look, "It's about that boy, isn't it?"

"Which boy?"

"Shindou. Your rival I suppose?" Ogata stretched lazily. 

"No… yes." It amazed Akira how long it took for him to realise the truth, which an outsider had realised within a matter of minutes. 

"He doesn't really know about it, does he?" There was a certain amount of smugness in his voice. 

"…No."

_I don't want to leave…_

Why?

_I don't want to leave Hikaru… _

Why?

_But I have to… _

Is that all? 

"This game is…" Akira trailed off in awe. 

"Beautiful…" Hikaru completed the sentence for him. 

Silence filled the room as they stared at the Go board, mesmerised by the intricate patterns, marvelling at how the other had grown and re-strengthening the belief that the 'other' was truly, their eternal rival. 

"You've grown… again…" Akira commented monotonously.  

"If you're not careful, I'm going to surpass you." Hikaru said in his typical arrogant fashion. 

It was the cue. The cue for him to smirk in cold fury and say, "You'll never catch up with me." And that in turn, would be a cue for Hikaru to glare icily at him, to get angry at his arrogant manner, and to hate him for being such a jerk. 

But, today, Akira did not rise up to the bait. He merely smiled and shrugged it off. He had something else on his mind… 

"I wish I could stay a little longer…" Akira smiled almost wistfully.  

"Don't worry. We can always play when you come back from China." Hikaru waved dismissively. 

"You knew that I'm leaving?" Akira was taken aback, yet at the same time, he was strangely relieved. 

"Of course," Hikaru scoffed, "You're going there just to learn isn't it? It would be at most a month before you come back." 

"Oh…" The relief left as fast as it had appeared. 

Hikaru frowned, "A pity, but then," he flashed a foolhardy grin, "you better be careful. When you come back, I'll grow stronger yet again."

But Akira was not listening.

_He had gotten the wrong idea…_

How?

_He doesn't know that I'm going to stay there…_

So?

_I thought he should know…_

Anything else?

"Are you done packing?" Touya Meijin asked. 

"Yes." Akira nodded. 

Luggage in hand, they entered Ogata's car. Ogata-san had so kindly offered to drive them to the airport… not without ulterior motives though. 

"So…Akira, you've still decided to move?" Ogata asked in a cavalier fashion. 

"Yes." 

"Oh, I see." And he left it opened like that. 

As they passed the Go Salon where Akira used to frequent, Akira got a glimpse of Hikaru discussing something heatedly with Ichikawa. He started to wonder if Hikaru had realised that he was gone. 

_He still doesn't know…_

So?

_It would be nice if he knew… _

Why?

_I thought he had the right to know…_

That's all?

He was at the airport, with his luggage beside him. 

They were there early so as to avoid possible traffic jams and other unforeseen circumstances. 

But he's starting to regret his own 'carefulness'. The airport was too empty. Too empty. It's too tempting to start conversation with self in such situations. And talking to himself is the thing that he wanted to avoid at all cost. 

"Touya!"

Maybe not. 

"Why didn't you tell me that you are leaving?" Hikaru yelled in the voice he would specially reserve for their 'discussion of games'. 

"Does it matter?" came the calm yet provocative question. 

"Oh course it does!"

Silence. 

_Why?_

"Because… we're rivals… " 

Silence. 

Akira was once again dazzled by his own denseness at realising something, which everyone else had known all along. 

He smiled self-depreciatingly and said softly, "yah… I suppose you're right…for once." 

Hikaru beamed at being acknowledged as Akira's rival… before his brain had worked out the last bit of his comment, "For _once_? What do you mean by for _once_? What about the other times?"

Akira laughed. 

_Because we are rivals_

_Who chases after the other indefinitely_

_Till one reaches the end_

_But there is no end_

_So we will walk down the path_

_Together_

_For eternity_


End file.
